{realty wedding story} Grand Affair at Mississauga Convention Centre

PHOTOGRAPHY: Chris @ StudioChris (studiochris.ca). “Chris did an amazing job with our pictures, and given that this was our second wedding in two weeks as we’d already gone to India for our Hindu ceremony, it was a challenge to make us look less tired!… Apart from our church ceremony earlier in the day, we had another blessing ceremony at the venue before our reception for all the guests who could not make it in the morning. Our guests loved being a part of that! We had a photo session after the blessing ceremony with ourselves and our guests, so we could have some personal memories with all of them.” -M&T

WEDDING DÉCOR & FLORAL DESIGN: Monali’s company, Starlet Weddings and Events, Kitchener (starletweddingsandevents.com). Monali explains,“Because I’m in the industry, it made no sense for me to hire someone else.” Starlet took care of the décor, flowers, linens, charger plates, and chairs. Monali has always loved a colour palette of blush, pinks, corals and gold: “These colours are truly beautiful together and have always been a look I’ve loved.” – M

CATERING:Avani Asian Indian Bistro, Mississauga (avani.ca) “Our dinner was a sit down, family style service with an open bar. It was very important for us to make sure our guests were well taken care of and ate as much as they wanted to, so needless to say, there was a lot of food followed by a late night poutine and crêpe and waffle station!” – M

BIGGEST CHALLANGE:“Summers are usually my busiest season, therefore between work, and planning my India wedding from half way around the world, there was very little time or energy left for planning our Canadian wedding! Time management was key for us!” – M

BEST MEMORY: “THE WHOLE THING! We had a blast at our weddings! We had been dating for nine years, so it was definitely time we got married!” – M&T

ADVICE, ONE COUPLE TO ANOTHER:“Plan ahead, hire the right people so you don’t have to do the work and thinking the whole time… Most importantly, things will go wrong here and there, but you’ll be the only one who knows, so just let it go and enjoy the day!” – M&T